TVB Entertainment News

The Chief Executive in Council has refused to renew the license for the troubled broadcaster when it expires on November 30 this year, putting a final nail in the coffin for Hong Kong's oldest broadcaster.

The government yesterday notified ATV that it will be given until April 1, 2016, to operate with its spectrum revoked on the same date. Up to 700 employees will be made redundant.
The decision on the fate of the 58-year-old station came amid a 24-hour rollercoaster ride, with ATV announcing on air on Tuesday night that it had secured a "white knight" investor in HKTV's Ricky Wong Wai-kay. But Wong denied yesterday there was any such deal. Then came news yesterday morning of another mystery investor signing a deal with major ATV shareholder Wong Ching. But this investor is unlikely to push through with the transaction as the memorandum of agreement hinged on an ATV license renewal.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Gregory So Kam- leung said Exco had "considered all relevant developments and facts, including the news bulletin by ATV last night and the clarification from HKTV." He revealed that eight minutes past midnight yesterday he received a letter that "a few people had an indicative offer for ATV but there was no mention of a deal." He said the non-renewal decision was "well-deliberated" and that ATV was given enough time to submit its restructuring plan by Tuesday's deadline.

Accountancy firm Deloitte was appointed by the courts to oversee the station. In November, ATV requested leeway until the end of last month to give it time to develop a restructuring plan. On January 2, Deloitte asked the Executive Council not to make a final decision because of the ongoing restructuring. After seeking legal advice, the government gave ATV until March 31 to make its proposals. "By the deadline, no specific proposals were made by ATV on restructuring," So said. "The CE in Council also considered the request in the submission for the extension of the deadline and the information made available this afternoon, but was not satisfied that a sufficient case has been put forward to justify any further extension of time."

It is the first time in broadcasting history that an existing license was not renewed. So and Communications Authority head Ambrose Ho Pui-him warned that if ATV committed another serious breach of the law within the next 12 months, its license will be revoked immediately. The government will set up a task force to ensure the speedy resolution of various issues and to minimize any adverse impact of the non-renewal decision. The government has invited RTHK to provide an analogue TV service channel to give audiences one more choice from April 1 next year up to 2020. "For the spare spectrum, we will look at the entire situation and work according to Broadcasting Ordinance and spectrum policies to decide how to allocate them," So said. "Currently we cannot tell how we are going to arrange it." So said if ATV closes down before the scheduled timetable, RTHK will take over the service.

Calling yesterday "the darkest day in Hong Kong," ATV's major investor Wong Ching said he was not surprised by the license renewal failure. He attributed it to "a series of conspiracy and deception regarding the sale of the shares of ATV in these two years." He added it was "the price paid by a conscientious media station."

In the past year, ATV's rating has hit a new low, several of their programs are getting TV ratings of 0 (zero). Earlier investor (Wong Ching) did the popular horse-riding dance protesting against the government's issue of more free-to-air licenses, the outcome was 'shocking'! In the past week, ATV suddenly 'threw a tantrum' and asked their young inexperienced artists to undergo an artists training class. ATV executive and first line artists including Jaclyn Chu, Gilbert Lam, Kenneth Chan and Lau Shek Yin served as their instructors. All 'Miss Asia', 'Mr. Asia', 'Asian Million Stars' and contracted artists must report to Tai Po to accept ATV's training on acting. The training is four weeks long, Monday to Fridays, from 10am to 12pm, and then again from 2pm to 5pm. It is close to the normal office work hours (9-5pm).

Monday's lesson was surprising mostly about ATV's 55 years in the industry, their footprints, standpoint and views on the free television licenses. The lesson was similar to a brainwashing course and the content was very boring. Several artists left half way and didn't go to class at all in the following two days. ATV executives were highly displeased by their behavior and on Thursday, they asked contracted artists to sign another term in the agreement. The artists are to promise to actively accommodate to ATV's training project. Yesterday Wong Ching personally served as the instructor of the class and was alarmed to see the low attendance rate. He was very angered, he immediately went to find the absented artists and fired 4-5 of them, including former Miss HK Priscilla Chi, Ben Cheung, lengmo Aki Chan, and host Cheung Tsz Ying (Che Che).

This issue startled many artists, they commented on how heartless ATV was being. They believed forcing artists to attend an unpaid training and working for free is unreasonable. Some of the comments made were, "Why force artists to go to the course every day, like its an office job?" , "Since ATV and the audience already recognize us as artists, then why do we still have to attend these lessons?" , "There are no series filming now, then why are they still trying to teach us acting?". It was understood, Priscilla and Che Che were back at ATV yesterday to get their "big envelope".

As one of the instructors, Kenneth Chan was shocked to hear the news, he feels everyone should maintain peace: "This is a heavy punishment, there should be a warning first!" He expressed he is not in HK a lot, and his topic was 'messing with one's mind', which is very vague. "If I'm able to help new colleagues understand the work more, then that's okay, but they should really hire a professional instructor to do the training. (Salary?) Haven't discussed that yet!" Kenneth expressed he doesn't have an educational background in performing arts, so he does not know how to teach others, but he's also fears if he says no he'll be the one fired as well.

ATV executive Yip Ka Bo responded: "Those artists were dismissed only because they could not accommodate the company's requests. (Artists feel taking lessons again is unreasonable?) This is not an acting course, it is a training course. It is fair and square. They could not accommodate, then ATV had to take such action. (Their contract says they must take this course?) The dismissed artists had that written in their contracts." Yip Ka Bo expressed "Asian Million Star" (Gong Si Hak), Miss Asia (Dominy Chau) and artist Chun Kai Wai were given a raise for good performance.

ATV executive director Shing Pan-yu borrowed a fighting phrase from mainland strongman Jiang Zemin to tell a tycoon to stick to the broadband telecom business he's in now and not to interfere in the free-to-air television sector.

Speaking during a 90-minute live broadcast yesterday to protest against the issue of new TV licenses, Shing told Ricky Wong Wai-kay, one of at least three hopefuls for a license to develop television services on the internet, that "river water should not interfere with well water."

Jiang used those words in 1989 when he was Communist Party chief - he was president from 1993 to 2003 and still packs a punch in the mainland - to warn Hong Kong against trying to interfere in central government affairs.

Ironically, ATV was fined HK$300,000 by the broadcast authority for a false report on July 6 last year that Jiang had died.

Shing's unprecedented high-profile live show was immediately condemned by Civic Party lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching. She said ATV had used airtime improperly to propagate its message and that complaints are expected to be made to the Communications Authority.

But an ATV spokesman countered last night, saying that broadcasting the show live was reasonable, legitimate and fair, adding that the station opposed any form of political censorship.

Participants in yesterday afternoon's show included contestants in the Miss Asia Pageant and Mr Asia competition.

They took to a catwalk in front of the government's Tamar headquarters before joining others to shout slogans to oppose anyone else entering the free- television arena, which is now restricted to ATV and TVB.

Shing also cited the collapse in the late 1970s of Commercial Television, a third free-to-air station, to claim that keen competition in the business meant there was no space for anyone else. Commercial Television began broadcasting in 1975 and went off screens in 1978 and was declared bankrupt.

"If the government issues additional free-TV licenses, it can lead to the collapse of a TV station, and this will only cause more problems in Hong Kong," Shing argued.

ATV's major investor, Wong Ching, who also attended the show, weighed in by predicting "disaster" if new free-to-air licenses were granted.

Also there was Basic Law Committee member Lau Nai-keung and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference member Lew Mon-hung, who spoke in support of ATV.

But ATV senior vice president Kwong Hoi-ying had to come out later to reject complaints by some staff that they were forced to join the show.

Ricky Wong also came back after the barrage to insist "it's necessary for the government to issue more free-TV licenses to enhance competition in the TV market."

He said he has already recruited more than 700 artistes and other personnel to prepare for a new channel, and if all goes well and he obtains a license there will be around 1,800 employees next year.

He had earlier threatened to sue the government for the continuing delay on issuing new licenses.

Mo argued that yesterday's broadcast "absolutely undermined public interests" and was unfair applicants for licenses.

And Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing said it was a conflict of interest for ATV to broadcast the live show to press the government not to grant licenses.

A spokeswoman for the Communications Authority said any complaints would be investigated.

TVB and ATV jointly held a press conference yesterday to announce the broadcast arrangements of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The two TV stations announced the unprecedented use of the same live broadcast room to report the Olympics opening ceremony. When the time comes, TVB and ATV hosts will 'sit together' to provide coverage on the Olympic games.

Yesterday Eric Tsang, Nat Chan, Kate Tsui, Shirley Yeung, Rebecca Zhu and 30 other artists took part in the press conference to boost the atmosphere and to carry out a 'demonstration' against iCable, who has won the exclusive broadcast rights of the Olympics. Eric laughed and said he received a secret order to help iCable, but unfortunately he has to stay with TVB. Eric is happy that the Olympic broadcast issue has been resolved because the Olympics is a grand event after all and every individual should be able to enjoy it.

Last year, ATV and TVB had a verbal war due to the TV rating miscalculations, but this time they suddenly became friends again, and announced that ATV artists will be going into TVB City to take part in a special program. TVB assistant GM (Au Wai Lam) expressed on stage thanking iCable for investing 120 million HKD to buy the broadcast rights for the Olympic games. "This time, the collaboration between ATV and TVB reflects the Olympic spirit, it's a triple winner. Thank you iCable and ATV. Together (ATV/TVB) we have a hundred years of history, our broadcast of the Olympics will definitely be successful!" Then Mr. Au joked: "In fact, we should let ATV come up and talk first. Firstly, that is being polite and secondly the location is called Tai Po Civic Centre, ATV is located in Tai Po, so it's their home ground!" ATV's VP (Kwong Hoi Ying) also expressed TVB Pearl and ATV's International channel will make up the Olympics channel. Each day, there will be 10 hours of coverage on the Olympics.

Kate Tsui and Shirley Yeung hopes to go to London. Shirley expressed: "I had the experience of doing interviews in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (Who's going to look after your daughter?) My mom and worker can help!"

TVB contracted singer, GEM Tang appeared on ATV last night during the news hour and did a weather report. At the end of the program, she expressed she felt so nervous: "I arrived an hour early and read the script to myself. However because people complained I was too slow, in the end a professional came to help me."

ATV has been a weak channel for many years, and because of this lately the station has been constantly broadcasting reruns of old series to provoke audience. Yesterday a magazine reported that ATV has been cutting back on resources. Earlier ATV was shooting new sitcom Close Friends (親密損友) starring Kelvin Kwan, and only had one van to deliver costumes and equipment. They also announced early that shooting has completed. It is still unknown of when the sitcom will broadcast. It was reported that ATV purchased EEG's 7 year old low-end production Shanghai Legend for a low price.

ATV Executive (Yip Ka Bo) clarified that ATV isn't cutting back, Close Friend is near completion. Producer Gary Tang has strict expectations, where the set and music had to be perfect. How can ATV be cutting back! On the contrary, they are increasing their resources, and will have more self-produced programs in the next half year. There will be Miss Asia, Mr. Asia and many other large-scale productions. The recruitment process has started recently. As for Ada Choi, Lawrence Ng and William So's low-end production Shanghai Legend, Mr. Yip felt that cannot be side and that the series is scheduled to broadcast end of this year because it is also produced by Gary Tang. The new sitcom is estimated to air early next year.

Television Broadcasts (0511) is suing ATV in the High Court for libel.

The action comes after ATV questioned the accuracy of viewing figures at its small-screen rival.

TVB, the top local free-to-air broadcaster, said it is taking the action after ATV failed to apologize for its comments within seven days.

In its lawsuit, TVB is seeking compensation for potential loss of advertising revenue owing to the alleged libelous remarks made by ATV over the number of TVB viewers.

TVB said its ratings surveys are carried out by an independent third party over which it has no control.

One survey showed that TVB usually has 1.27 million to 1.91 million viewers for its drama series during peak hours.

However, ATV expressed doubts over the accuracy of the survey conducted by a market research firm.

Instead, it cited a survey by another third party, indicating ATV had as many as 702,680 viewers for the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards on April 17.

ATV also quoted a survey by the University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme, suggesting that it is closing the gap with TVB, with a 44 percent audience share in April, compared to the 56 percent of TVB.

The ratio is February was 41 percent to 59 percent.

Meanwhile, three more players are expected to become free-to-air broadcasters.

According to reports, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority will grant licenses to PCCW (0008), i-Cable Communications (1097) and City Telecom (1137) as early as the final quarter of this year.

However, ATV said it is upset about the decision, describing it as unfair, because the investment required will be much lower than presently needed.

"ATV is required to invest at least HK$2.3 billion in the next five years, while the maximum investment for the newcomers is only HK$1.17 billion."

ATV held a press conference to attack TVB back on the TV rating war. At the press conference, ATV stated that in the past when they had CSM do their viewership research, they suffered great financial losses. It is estimated that the financial losses is HK$1 billion.

Following TVB, CSM and HK's Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies statement strongly criticizing ATV for their false accusations, TVB Foreign Affairs Director Tsang Sing Ming expressed that after TVB and CSM Media Research's meeting, it was decided that TVB will be issuing a legal letter to ATV to get their justice back.

Yesterday ATV Executives and investors directed the press conference and had the broad member of HK Film Awards, Lee Siu Ha (2009-2011) to support them. ATV describes yesterday as "Black Wednesday", he expressed that Hong Kong TV Advertisement profits about HK$3 billion, hence the estimated figure of financial losses. If there is evidence of fabricated TV ratings, it will become a legal case.

As if ATV will take further action? ATV expressed: "We will not let someone punch us a few times and not fight back. We retain our professional character." Back then Princess Pearl and Who Wants to be a Millionaire received favorable ratings, but today when there are poor ratings, ATV seeks another survey company. By this, there is a sense of a 'sore loser' feeling. ATV said: "Back then we had Neilson company do our surveying. Although it is possible that our current programs aren't as good, still we will not be a loser. Before the contract wasn't over yet, so we suffered in silence. Since last year, the contract ended, so we started looking for another company. At the time we had a lot of criticisms, and whenever there was a new program aired, they will always say we have low ratings."

TVB and ATV's TV Rating battle is not ending. Yesterday TVB announced the TV rating results, and said ATV's Sunday broadcast of the "30th HK Film Awards Presentation" only got 7 points, peaking at 11 points. ATV said that this unlikely because TVB's rating reports only uses a sample of 650 households and that some people suspect TVB "fabricated" the results to attack ATV. Yesterday TVB, CSM Media Research and the HK Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies released a joint statement. Regarding to the "fabricated TV ratings" comment, which is believed to be offensive and a serious accusation with no evidence, damages the corporation's reputation, and under deep disappointment, TVB retains the right to take all legal action necessary.

Damages reputation

The statement mentioned that Hong Kong's TV rating report is measured according to the international standards and adopts global advanced technology to undergo TV viewership research. It is the only research recognized in the TV and Advertising industries. Recording of TV ratings started in 1992 as PeopleMeter, in the past 20 years, the sample numbers and research technology had substantial improvement. Today, the research is already covering the new digital TV, LED/LCD viewers and more.

Criticizes ATV's telephone research is out

The statement also indirectly criticized that when ATV and Hong Kong University jointly started research over the telephone, "[they] used telephones to measure the viewership, that is technology used before 1978 and does not fit with today's complex and constant changing TV and Advertising industries. It does not fit with the standards today and the method had already been abandoned long ago."

Actress Amy Chan [Sau-Man]’s contract with ATV officially expired in June 2008. After the contract expired, Amy had already come to an agreement with ATV on a new contract and was just pending the official signature . At the time, ATV was in a rush to start filming new series <> [in which Amy stars as the female lead opposite male lead Lawrence Ng], so despite the fact that the new contract had not been signed yet, Amy agreed to first film the series and work things out with ATV later. Now, more than 2 years later, and long after the series finished airing, Amy claims that ATV never paid her for her participation in the series. Recently, during a meeting with a few other artists to discuss plans for her upcoming stage musical <<情歸何處>>, Amy revealed her struggle with ATV over the unpaid wages: “In their promotional trailer, ATV said that the series [<>] winning an award is proof that hard work pays off -- regrettably, I did not receive a single dollar for it.”

Shortly after filming of <> was completed, ATV’s management changed once again – originally, Amy’s new contract was settled with ATV executive Ho Ting Kwan and his staff, however when the new management took over, they told Amy that the company does not plan on filming any more series any time soon, so her new contract was put on hold indefinitely. Amy expressed that she does not care whether there are opportunities to collaborate in the future, but she does have a problem with ATV not paying her wages for filming <>. She claimed that, through her lawyer, she has repeatedly requested for ATV to pay the 7-figure salary owed to her for filming the series, however ATV has continued to delay the matter. Recently, after receiving a response from ATV that stated “We do not owe you anything”, Amy felt the need to pursue the issue further and seek justice for herself: “I told my lawyer: if a restaurant asked me to wash dishes for them for a day and promised me that tomorrow, they would sign a long-term contract with me as well as pay me for that 1 day of washing dishes, but then after I wash the dishes, they tell me they are no longer going to sign the contract with me, shouldn’t I still get paid for that 1 day? My lawyer said that ATV definitely should pay me for my work. There is no contract and they have not paid me, plus the series already aired last year – how could they pretend that the matter doesn’t exist? After so many years of collaboration with them, I was willing to start filming without having signed a contract because of one word: TRUST! It’s not like this was my first time collaborating with them, so I couldn’t believe they would handle the matter in this way! Definitely a lesson learned!”

With regard to the salary dispute with Amy Chan, ATV’s top executive Yip Kar Bao expressed that the matter was simply a misunderstanding with the contract -- upon consulting with their legal team, it was indicated that Amy Chan does not have enough evidence to pursue the matter, so “they do not owe her anything” and the matter is already resolved.

Universal Music and the other Big 4 record labels still have not resolved the royalty issues with TVB yet. Universal Music artist Eason Chan's contract with TVB already ended, which also begins Universal and ATV's series of planned collaborations. ATV hopes Eason will get more audience to watch their channel. ATV's executive (Sing Ban Yu) revealed to the media that Universal is currently discussing different collaboration plans with ATV and have already reached an agreement. The 5 new MVs to Eason's latest album will be broadcast by ATV.

Both sides are also planning on holding a concert for Eason, the performance space will be located on ATV's largest recording studio. Approximately a 1000 audience can be situated in it. The concert may not be held in the form of ticket selling, the preliminary idea is the possibility of inviting ATV audience into the studio.

In order to avoid the embarrassment of getting zero TV ratings again, ATV has opted out of 'buying misery' and gave up on paying a fee to get TV rating reports starting January 1, 2011. The TV rating reports were initially the responsibility of TVB, ATV and a group of advertisement companies. The TV rating reports not only provides feedback on series and other TV productions, but also serves as a voting source for advertisers to who they will sell their Ads to. As TVB dominates the majority of the TV rating report fees, ATV is responsible for HK$3 million annually.

ATV CEO (Yip Ka Bo) admitted to the news, he explained: "Nowadays, majority of the people use LED, Plasma and other new style TVs which does not connect with a receiver to get the TV ratings. The TV ratings are not complete anymore, so we aren't doing it anymore! We will be using another media research method that will be even more complete." As Producer Gary Tang will be starting two ATV series next year, he was rather disappointed in this news: "I have heard too, I can only do well on the public praises for the series. ATV ratings are following a different method anyway."

Also, as ATV is giving up on the TV rating reports, the media research fees will be left in the responsibility of TVB. It was said that TVB was not satisfied with this issue, however a response from TVB was not obtained before the deadline.

Miss Asia contestants attended the ATV 2010 Sales Presentation last night along with Jimmy Lin and Lo Hoi Pang. When Lo Hoi Pang (Pang Gor) came out to join his partner Jimmy to perform a stage drama East Palace West Palace in the form of a "saliva song" (TN: meaning a popular song that could be heard anywhere), Pang Gor seemed to be talking bad about TVB more than performing, the content is as follows: "I really hate TVB, TVB is the one earning money... the whole day, TVB used 9 old series to gang rape us...." Pang Gor then interacted with the audience below the stage, and said: "TVB, today are you angered yet?" Unexpectedly, the audience had absolutely no reaction, his partner on stage Jimmy Lin saw the situation and pretended to strike back on stage: "Where did they use 9 series to gang rape us every day?" Pang Gor immediately took out TVB's TV schedule and read it out loud. He also said that this is the true justification for TVB.

Later Pang Gor denied that the song came from his own writing, he laughed and said he's only repeating the performance according to the East Palace West Palace (東宮西宮) content. Asked when he first found out that he has to perform this part, did he feel irregular about it? He said: "Attitude is the same. (Is it not appropriate to sing something like this on this occasion?) It's no problem, just joking! (The lyrics are too extreme?) It was written like that, initially I was suppose to be the good character, but in the end they told me to be the bad character. I was thinking after I do this, I can forget about my career. (Won't reject?) Reject what, it's the truth, let more people know is good." Pang Gor admits that he had always wanted to retire and has not thought about returning to his maternal home or other questions, so didn't inform them in advance.

As for ATV's Executive (Yip Ka Bo) said that part was just for fun, it's all a joke. The content had also been in East, though he does not know if this part will be broadcast or not yet, but everything will be based on the Broadcasting Authority's standards.

Also, ATV's boss (Wong Jing Jik) expressed that the current free TV stations have too many commercials. He said to start the battle, ATV will become the only free TV station in the world to cut half of the commercials.

TVB has dominated the television industry for over 40 years, the "monopolist" is challenged again. The Broadcasting Authority (BA) has recently completed the preliminary investigations on TVB's monopoly based on ATV's allegations. Yesterday BA announced their decision to perform a thorough investigation on TVB's dominance abuse and violation of fair competition. The BA investigations leads to another turmoil that TVB has to face. It was understood that ATV's complaint directing concrete allegations on TVB triggered BA's first anti-monopoly investigation. The allegations includes [Chen Sheng] and three other Taiwanese singers suddenly canceling to attend an ATV promotion August 2009 and while attending an ATV promotion for a fundraising plan, Eric Tsang suddenly backs out.

ATV's attack on TVB started June 2009. ATV's CEO (Wu King Ying) at the time criticized a free TV station's monopoly at the BA hearing and then fired again at the LegCo that there is a TV station setting unwritten rules, making it difficult for ATV to find artists and singers willing to collaborate with them. BA's President (Ho Pui Him)accepted ATV's formal complaint and that the matter will be taken seriously.

Then ATV sent a letter to BA complaining that a free television station, name was not given, had 5 violations including an unreasonable monopoly contract stating that some artists could not appear on ATV, "anyone going on an ATV program will be shut out" as a regulation. Some artists from ATV's outsourced TV dramas are contracted with a certain television station that does not allow them to broadcast Cantonese soundtracks and requested the advertisers to not advertise on ATV. ATV was not allowed to obtain the broadcast rights to RTHK's 'Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards' and 'Hong Kong Connection'.

It was understood that ATV also submitted concrete 'violations' to the authorities August 2009 - Taiwnese singers Bobby Chen, Phil Chang and Huang Pin Yuan initially agreed to go on ATV's promotion for Three Good Men Sings Good Love Songs Concert, but suddenly used "does not fit schedule" to cancel their attendance. The second violation was Eric Tsang promised to go on ATV's charity show, but then after the cancellation, suddenly "it was not convenient" for Eric to appear on ATV and wanted ATV to change the plans to film him at an outdoor location instead. The other three violations were related to TVB's "one show a year" contract trying to tie the artists up so they can't appear on ATV and therefore weakens ATV's room for competition: "on the surface it seems to be an agreement, but it gives invisible pressure that forces to have no choice."
 
Ada Choi's series forced to be dubbed.
 Also, ATV has many outsourced TV dramas with famous artists, like King of Gambling stars Ada Choi, Chilam Cheung and Chapman To. Because they have contracts with TVB, they cannot appear on ATV's promotional events. Ada is also a TVB contracted artist and her actual voice cannot be broadcast, so ATV has no choice but to dub it, which will affect the TV ratings. Yesterday Chapman responded and praised that Taiwanese artists had a more healthy system, artists can appear on many different television stations, a healthy competition. As a viewer, should support anti-monopoly and have more options.

Yesterday BA announced that Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is suspected of dominance abuse and this anti-monopoly behavior is violation of the BA Regulations Article XIV. The preliminary investigation has been completed. After the BA looked over the preliminary investigation results and advice from an independent consultant, it has been decided that a full investigation will be done and requires licensees and other stakeholders to provide more information about the complaint, for BA to make a final decision. However, BA said that at this stage, the suspected corporation should not break the accusation that has already been established.

LegCo Information Technology and Broadcasting Panel VP (Lee Wing Tat) expressed that involved artists will be ask to provide more detail information: "We have to see if there really is a TVB 'one show a year' contract. If there really is one, then it is possible that TVB is violating fair competition." Also, an investigation is a good thing because it is important to have options, increase the future free TV stations and have fair competition in order to improve the quality of TV shows.

The 2010 Miss Asia Pageant (ATV) will be held at the end of this November in Hong Kong. This year's rule is resumed to the old one in 2007, allowing Chinese in various places to participate. However, because of the hostage crisis happened earlier in Philippine, it's known the organization decided to not invite Filipino contestant to participate in this year's pageant to prevent deepen the grudge between Hong Kong and Philippine. The organization also disclosed they worried if Filipino contestant comes to HK, they would be discriminated by others and thus affecting their mood during the competition. So they decided after holding a meeting that this year they won't invite Philippine representatives to compete.

ATV's PR spokesman confirmed the news on the phone: "To prevent Filipino contestant feeling embarrassed after coming to HK, so they won't be invited to compete in this pageant. Hong Kongers are still sad about this tragedy. In order to prevent Hong Kongers feeling embarrassed, this action doesn't count as an abuse of power. We're not discriminating Filipinos. We are considering their feelings, don't want them to get hurt emotionally."

Lawrence Ng, Amy Chan and Pinky Cheung's ATV series The Men of Justice ratings haven't been too bad. However, it was recently discovered that the series broadcast was "stolen" by a Mainland website.

ATV Executive (Yip Ka Bo) expressed that the series did not release in Mainland nor was there any DVD release, so based on investigations it is someone within the company that stole it. The series producer Gary Tang said: "The ratings more or less will be affected. Most of the audience for The Men of Justice are young people, and they are the more active ones online. They probably would want to watch it online because it's faster, it's hard to avoid this, but the one broadcast on the internet is the cut, but hasn't been edited version." Actress Pinky Cheung is also worried this may affect the ratings, she said: "My fans are discussing this issue on the internet, they said there is DVD too. I don't know who is responsible for this, but can just treat it as promotion!"

ATV is currently broadcasting The Men of Justice, created and produced by the Gary Tang Tak Hei. The cast includes Lawrence Ng Kai Wah, Amy Chen Sau Man, Kenneth Chan Kai Tai, Pinky Cheung, Jacky Lui Chung Yin, and William So Wing Hong. Since its broadcast, The Men of Justice has averaged five to six points in ratings. Although the series has helped ATV double its normal ratings performance, which is considered good results for the station. Many Internet users in online forums have praised the series for its courage and the professional manner in which the court scenes were written.

Incorporating several controversial cases, The Men of Justice focuses on the perpetual conflict between law enforcement and criminal activities. The series incorporates elements from current events that the audience is familiar with. It also includes a battle-of-wits little-known outside the court system, such as how to skillfully use legal procedures, and how to choose members of the jury for important cases. Interspersed between the development of the characters’ relationships are the legal cases, which include: a medical malpractice case; corruption within the police force; a witness failing to help a traffic accident victim, which ultimately led to the person’s death; the death of a wealthy tycoon and the subsequent dispute over his will.

This week’s highlight in The Men of Justice involves the romantic arc between Jo Koo Cho Lam and Lawrence Ng. After Jo’s secret crush turns into an obvious pursuit, Lawrence becomes embarrassed and does not know how to convey his reluctance in starting a new relationship.

ATV’s management has announced that they are hoping to resume production of series in the second half of the year – they expressed that everything is ready to go and they are just waiting approval from the big bosses.

In addition to plans for producing series, ATV also announced that the 2 grand production series that have been in their warehouse since 2008 --  Heroes of the Law (starring Lawrence Ng and Amy Chan) and the fifth installment in their Who is the Winner series (starring Julian Cheung and Ada Choi) – will be airing in July.

Both series are not exactly ATV productions, as they were filmed primarily through outside production companies and have been ‘buried’ in ATV’s warehouse for the past 2 years -- there were obviously ‘issues’ that arose which prevented the series from airing earlier.

Most people know that Heroes of the Law was plagued with salary dispute issues which prevented it from being released, however it is not very clear why Who’s the Winner was delayed for so long.

Prior to halting the production of series last year, ATV always had a history of unclear and ever-changing direction when it came to their series. Even with plans to resume production this year, it does not look like the situation will be improved much.

It is a known fact that producing TV series is rival TVB’s strongest weapon, so if ATV wants to use TV series – whether their own or those produced by outside companies -- to pull in high ratings, they will face enormous challenges. This is already obvious from past history.

Even with accusations of plagiarism, TVB’s series have continued to garner high ratings, which proves that HK audiences have already gotten used to watching the ‘TVB-style’ drama series.

With this said, what is the point of ATV resuming series production again? If the purpose is to pull in ratings, ATV needs to find the proper ‘niche’ for their series. If the purpose is to target a certain audience pool, then they need to ask themselves the necessary questions – how many people in the audience will the series attract, is it worth the investment, etc. etc.

Also, if ATV-produced series will have the same effect [in terms of ratings and audience] as series produced by outside companies (with ATV buying the rights to air), then is it really worth it for the station to produce their own series?

In today’s industry, it is almost impossible to gain profit from relying solely on the local Hong Kong television market. Typically, in order to produce a series, the cost usually starts at approximately 500,000 HKD per episode (for ‘ancient’ series, the costs are much higher) – so without an overseas market, the company is sure to lose money. Even collaborating with other countries such as mainland China and Taiwan can be a challenge, since it would be necessary to reduce the ‘Hong Kong flavor’ of the series in order to attract audiences in those markets.

With the large amounts of money that ATV has invested in their ‘new’ production facilities (sets, costumes, etc.), it is understandable that they would want to maximize the use of these resources by increasing production. However, the reality is that huge production costs contributed greatly to much of the past financial loss that ATV still has not recovered from.

Before producing series again, ATV really needs to think things through and establish a new and clear direction for themselves.